McDonald's Slides on Margin Squeeze

Same-store sales -- or sales at stores open at least one year, a closely watched metric in the restaurant industry -- rose 4.2% globally last quarter, McDonald's said. The line item grew 2.9% in the U.S., 5.7% in Europe, and 3.2% in Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

McDonald's Japan said comps fell 7.3% due to restaurant closings following the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami that hit the nation on March 11.

McDonald's spokeswoman Heidi Barker said more than 50 restaurant locations in Japan remained closed as of April 14. Reports late last month showed that all but 88 McDonald's Japan locations had reopened .